Hakam Cocktail

Found in the Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock, this drink is quite similar to that of the Martinez, although many Martinez recipes will specifically call for Old Tom gin, and/or the use of Maraschino liqueur. It's hard to say where this drink originates, or exactly what is intended by its name, but "Hakam" means "A Wise Man" in Hebrew.

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Did you have a bottle of vermouth to empty? The last few cocktails have all been vermouth cocktails.. or maybe yo’re trying to make a point? :p

I have a request actually - the Sawyer cocktail: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/recipes/2011/11/09/sawyer/

Looks interesting, but I am left wondering how to do the measurements consistently, especially considering bitters bottles might dose differently. Is there any consistency to how much a ‘dash’ is so we can convert those dashes to onces (or fractions of onces)?

While we are on the subject of sweet vermouth, have you ever tried Carpano Antica Formula Sweet Vermouth? I am in love with it. It is fantastic in a Manhattan. Keep up the good work. My wife and I love your videos.

I totally agree about Carpano. Not only is it great in a Manhattan, but try it in a martini. I use 2 oz of Beefeater-24, 1 oz Carpano, and several strong dashes of orange bitters. This is awesome. If it sounds weird, try it! I was a dry gin snob myself, but this will change your mind.

Naah, a Martinez has Maraschino added, and (usually) more vermouth than gin. What I described was a classic sweet martini. But because it’s Carpano it really isn’t all that sweet. It’s a heavenly mixture of sweet, dry, and bitter all at once, and the gin’s botanicals just wrap it all up. I’m especially happy with the hint of tea that the Beefeater-24 brings to the mid-palate. :-).

I’ve been “off the grid” for a couple of weeks (more on that later) so let me catch up with some of the questions here in the Hakam thread..

Jelly - for the recipe converter I wrote I use a calculation of 96 dashes per ounce to upsize/downsize recipes. Granted, dashers will differ, but this should be a decent ballpark for now. So 7 dashes would be .437 tsp and 14 dashes would be .875 tsp, which shoudl help. Adjust as necessary, you might find .432 tsp would work better in this case. :->

rehills - Yes, I too love Carpano Antica, it used to be very hard to find, but I’m seeing it more and more these days, so maybe it is time to start using it in some of these cocktails!

bullhorn - why yes. That is a new ring on my finger, thanks for noticing. Audrey Saunders and I got married this last July, and in fact we just now got back from our honeymoon, which is why I was offline for so long. :->

I am currently ecstatic because I was able to pick up a bottle of Carpano Antica for $26 US in Seattle.
I am from Vancouver where you can only find it in one particular liquor store - when they’re lucky enough to get shipments - and it’s only for sale for a whopping $90 CAD.
It’s a wonderful vermouth, but I definitely wouldn’t use it for everything.
I did just have a Boulevardier with Rittenhouse rye and Carpano Antica the other night at the Pourhouse and it was possibly one of the best cocktails I’ve ever had.

Some things are completely out of whack! B.C. has the worst taxes in Canada as well, and we pay twice as much or more for a lot of items, a few dollars more on a lot of spirits, but interestingly amari are cheaper up here. It’s almost entirely due to taxes, but there are also other factors when the products come from other countries. Most things coming from the U.S. seem to get taxed harder than products coming from other foreign countries.
We also don’t have access to nearly as much here, including bitters, gins, American rye (though that situation is getting better), and tequila. Our rum selection, though is just as diverse but completely different. There are so many things you can only find in independent stores here, which means the prices get hiked up even more.
I actually recently wrote about the difference between Washington and B.C./Vancouver if anyone is interested:
http://and1morefortheroad.blogspot.com/2011/11/buying-alcohol-in-us.html